Switzerland

edthered
edthered Forum Participant Posts: 2
edited June 2019 in Overseas Campsites & Touring #1

Can anyone help we are travelling to Switzerland in July/August and want to know if it is worth buying a Swiss travel pass, they do a consecutive one or a flex one, we want to know if anyone has used these as we feel confused reading all the different ones and where to get them.

And if anyone has any tips that could help with travel, supermarkets, around Interlaken would be very grateful 

thanks in advance

Eddie & Mo

Comments

  • eurortraveller
    eurortraveller Club Member Posts: 6,829 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2019 #2

    Rather than a travel pass for the whole of Switzerland you may be satisfied with a Regional Pass for the Berner Oberland area which is where you will be based.

    if you look at the website for that regional pass it includes a map showing which boats, buses and trains will be free with the pass, and which are ones where you will go for half price.

    it also gives a list of full fares for the most popular excursions in the area so you can add up the cost of the day trips you want to make and decide whether the regional travel pass would save you money.

    Wait for a spell of fine weather when you there before paying for mountain excursions. You can buy a regional pass or individual tickets on the day. None of them are cheap.

  • eurortraveller
    eurortraveller Club Member Posts: 6,829 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2019 #3

    No one else seems interested in this thread - but there are ways to avoid high prices in the  Interlaken area. After all a 3 day regional travel pass there costs 210 Swiss francs, and they have to be 3 consecutive days. 

    So we moved the caravan 25 miles up the valley to Kandersteg where the cost for the 3 cable cars there (to Allmenalp, Oeschinensee and Sunnbuel) totals 80 Swiss francs if you can pay as you go - so they don't have to be 3 consecutive days. You can have rest days or wait for the weather.

    If anyone wants to go for gentle high level walking and drooling over wild flowers coming through the snow in June then I suggest going to places other than Interlaken. And where there are fewer coach loads of Chinese tourists too.

     

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 9,387 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2019 #4

    When we did a 2 week trip to Interlaken we opted to buy the Regional Pass. This gave within the 15 days vlaidity, 5 free days unlimited travel on the majority of routes on days of your choice and 50 percent discount on the other 10 days. It did work out considerably cheaper than paying for all the trip fares we did..

    peedee

  • Tigi
    Tigi Forum Participant Posts: 1,038
    500 Comments
    edited June 2019 #5

    The Lugano Campsite gave us free passes for local transport last year as we are getting on, only used it to go into Lugano on train as we only stayed one night but worth looking out for.

  • ILoveSwitzerland
    ILoveSwitzerland Forum Participant Posts: 21
    edited July 2019 #6

    Hi guys.  There are several good supermarkets around Interlaken if you are still going there.  Migros (pronounced "Megrow") has a large store in the centre of town with an underground car park for which you pay CHF1 an hour.  Migros is the equivalent of Marks/Waitrose/Sainsbury. It also has a reasonably priced (for Switzerland) restaurant with real chefs, good food and great cakes for a lunch time meal.  My wife loves the coffee there.  There are a couple of Co-ops (pronounced as in chicken "coop"), one in Unterseen just before the level crossing at Interlaken West station, and another in the large retail square outside the East (Ost) station.  Both have underground car parks.  There's also an Aldi further out from East station towards Bonigen (right at the roundabout and then on the left) and a Lidl in Matten.  Also everything shuts on Sunday but the Migros petrol stations in Interlaken and Wilderswil both have a great food selection available most of the day.  You will probably get free local bus trips on you guest card if staying in Interlaken.

    If you like to go to church on a Sunday, the church in Freihofstrasse 33-23 in Unterseen has an English service at 1030.  There's often visitors from lots of countries to chat with afterwards.

    If you like walking or cycling (including mountain cycling) there is a free App called SwissMobility which has all the footpaths and cycle routes in Switzerland on it in great detail.

    Going up the Jungfrau is very nice, but if cost is an issue I would recommend the Schilthorn (Piz Gloria) instead as most of the Jungfrau train ride is in tunnel.  A good walk is the Eiger North Face hiking trail from Eigergletcher down to Alpigen.  Also from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg.  Another is from Grutsalp just above Lauterbrunnen (up the cable car) along to Murren from where you can walk down to Gimmelwald and take the cable car down.

    Please feel free to ask any further questions.

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